Thursday, June 16, 2016

Primary Narcissism, Ego, Universe

According to Freud, Primary Narcissism is constituted by a feeling of "oneness with the universe", only subsequent to which, as a reaction to repression, does there emerge the withdrawal of the Ego, creating an antagonist relation to the world.  However, neither Freud, nor Marcuse, as he develops a vision of an ideal society from it, recognizes the fragmentation implicit in the concept of Primary Narcissism.  What they overlook is that the 'the' in "the universe" is incorrect; rather, it should be 'my'.  In other words, 'the universe' is already an atomized multiverse in this concept, as each Ego is infinitely isolated from each other Ego.  Accordingly, in the absence of a cultivation of an awareness of the existence of similarly Narcissistic Egos, e. g. via Kant's concept of another as an End-in-Itself, the concept of Primary Narcissism does not, contrary to Marcuse's ambition, suffice as a ground of the integrated society that he envisions.

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